When the Leaves Stop Falling

Chapter 5

Courtney awakened slowly from the dream, the smell of gin still in her nose and fear fading from where it had been lodged in her throat. She shoved away visions of dark hair and the thin mouth twisted wryly in disgust. She attempted to stretch, but there was nowhere for her legs to go. It took her too long to comprehend she was still in the car with Serena.

Opening her eyes and straightening, she found it was daylight. It had been near midnight when they'd left the diner.

A wave of uncertainty filled Courtney about this trip, and not for the first time. After running from home years before, she'd learned to trust her instincts, so she tried to push down the doubts. Her sense thought this was the right move.

"Morning," Serena chirped from next to her. "Are you hungry?" Her eyes were as kind as her voice.

Taking stock, she nodded. "You drove all night."

Serena flicked her a glance and returned it to the road. "I don't sleep much lately, though I do need to start sticking to a schedule."

"I never did sleep well, either." She immediately regretted the slip. No one wanted to know of her childish sleeping problems. "You probably want to stop and rest." She skimmed her gaze around. "Where are we, anyway?"

"Um, we're coming up to Las Cruces." Serena must've detected Courtney had no idea where that was. She smiled warmly at her again. "New Mexico."

As Serena drove a little while longer, looking for places to stop, she suddenly remembered something Mrs. Meyers had said about Courtney not ever traveling. It wouldn't hurt to take in some sights while they were on the road, show her around since she'd never been anywhere. She knew it would also be her only time to do this, as her time was running out. She'd never really stopped to look herself at anything along the way. She'd been in such a hurry to reach California that she hadn't taken the time to see all there was to this world. They could both take it in for the first time.

"Hey, I was thinking we could do some sight-seeing along the way." Serena briefly turned to her and back to the road. Those blue eyes lit up and she grinned from ear to ear like a child.

"Really?"

That smile was contagious. Serena found herself grinning as well for the first time in a long time. "Sure. Las Cruces has these wonderful caves. I've never been, but I hear they're marvelous."

"I've never seen a cave," Courtney murmured in response, thinking what a stupid thing to say. Her cheeks heated in embarrassment.

Serena noted the blush, and wondered why Courtney felt she could never say anything right. It was is if the moment they hit the city limits with nothing but open highway before them, Courtney had clammed up and crawled into herself. She was also a little socially awkward, making Serena wonder if she never had friends.

Maybe if she just reassured her new friend that she could speak freely? "I've never seen a cave either."

"You haven't?"

"No. My family didn't vacation much." Because she was always sick and Grams was getting up there in age, even when her and Austin were young.

Courtney wanted to ask why, and better yet, wanted to know the reason they were going to Grandma's house instead of Mom and Dad's. But instead she nodded her head and turned back to search out her window. The land was pretty flat, seasoned with oranges and browns against a cobalt sky. The contrast was striking and her fingers itched for her camera. Boulders dotted the landscape, as if to throw a wrench into the picture to be contrary. A few scrub bushes and cactus spanned out, creating long, irregular shadows on the packed, dry earth.

Serena cleared her throat. "Let's get a hotel room, eat, then we can go see the Carlsbad Caverns. We'll stay the night here. Does that sound good?"

"Sure." It sounded wonderful, but she tried not to seem too enthusiastic, lest Serena didn't like playing tourist after their first stop.

Carlsbad Caverns was nothing like Courtney thought it would be. She had almost lost the tour group twice by gawking in sheer amazement.

Rocks jutted out of the earth and surrounded themselves with this beautiful cavern, so deep, so wide, so tall, that Courtney questioned if anyone had ever really seen it all. Formations hung down from the top that looked like icicles she'd only seen in Utah. She knew they couldn't be, for the tour guide had said something about stalactites and stalagmites, but she wished she could reach that high to touch for herself. Running her hands along the walls as she walked, the cold and damp seeped into her--smooth and just a little wet.

The tour guide walked backwards to face the group, and her voice echoed off the cave walls. "subterranean chambers. There are 300,000 Mexican free-tail bats that stay here from early spring through to October."

Courtney had no idea how many pictures she took with the camera Dr. Maynard had given her last year, but she was glad at that moment he thought enough of her to bestow the present. She fought him tooth and nail about it then, saying it was too expensive and she had no initiative to use one.

He'd merely sighed in his patient way and said, "You have a gift of sight. This will help you use it." He'd demonstrated how to load the film, focus, the right lighting, and some other things he'd picked up along the way while enjoying his hobby he'd shared with her. He would chuckle every time she got the film back from developing, saying she was far better at it in ten minutes than he'd been in ten years.

She couldn't wait to send him copies of her trip. Giddy at the thought, she imagined him now, huddled around the counter. Mrs. Meyers would be cooing that she was right to send her away. Dr. Maynard would chuckle, as he always did, and rub his beard.

The thin tunnel opened up into a labyrinth of rock formations, low into the ground, with a wide open, almost cathedral-like ceiling. Light poked in from the top, cascading in through streams, and resting down below.

She waited behind the others as they descended stairs cut into the rock, and into the cavern below. She aimed the lens of her camera up, and after adjusting for focus, took the shot of a beam of sunlight jutting through the rock wall ceiling. It was almost heavenly, the way it was so serene and mystical--as if God Himself had directed the rays of light toward her.

Something pulled inside her chest, a feeling she'd never be able to explain to anyone with ears. An utter calm and peace shifted through her, starting with her core and spreading out. Filling crevices and sealing dark with light. In her entire life, she'd never had a single moment of pure...euphoria. She rocked on her heels, unsteady. Her eyes grew wet, her throat tight.

Camera paused midair to her face, she searched below for Serena. Finding her almost immediately, their gazes locked. Understanding dawned in Serena's eyes, as if Courtney's bliss had been passed to her. Stormy blue eyes met a pair of golden brown, and held. As if Serena was right next to her, instead of forty feet away, Courtney reveling in the heat and warmth of the moment.

The extended rope of budding friendship Courtney sensed from first meeting Serena strengthened into a knot. Tied together, no matter what.

Courtney pressed her lips together to keep tears at bay and nodded her head, looking away. There were no words needed to acknowledge her friend felt it too. Courtney held that tranquility, a stillness Serena so desperately needed, if only for a brief minute.

Clearing her throat, and after a second to compose herself, Courtney took a couple more shots and headed down.